RALEIGH, N.C., Oct. 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Syneos HealthTM (NASDAQ:SYNH), the only fully integrated biopharmaceutical solutions organization, today released a study providing real-world patient insights into the effectiveness of digital advertising to speed clinical trial recruitment. Research highlights of the study, which was conducted by the Company’s Communications business, will be presented at 2:30 p.m. today at Digital Pharma East in Philadelphia, PA.

The study, conducted online with 432 patients in the United States with epilepsy and migraine – two conditions with active late-phase pipelines – aimed to help digital marketers better understand patient perceptions surrounding online clinical trial advertising. Research evaluated patient trust levels with specific online channels and platforms, and what factors contributed to content success. Syneos Health is committed to identifying behavioral insights to deliver meaningful communications to shorten the distance from lab to life.

“As we move toward a future where more personalized therapies make enrolling the right patients more difficult, social media advertising plays an increasingly important role in effective clinical trial recruitment,” said Michael Pearlman, a lead author of the report. “Our study reveals that the rules for social advertising in clinical trial recruitment aren’t the same as traditional advertising. Understanding these key differences can be critical to the success of social marketing campaigns that have the ability to accelerate patient recruitment efforts.”

Recall of Clinical Trial Ads is High: Sixty-six percent of epilepsy patient respondents and 79 percent of migraine respondents recall seeing clinical trial advertising. Among places where people recall seeing clinical trial advertising, Facebook ranks as the third most-recalled medium with only the doctor’s office and television ranking higher.

High Trial Intenders Trust Social Media: Survey respondents who indicated a high intent to enroll in a clinical trial showed higher levels of trust in every digital information source included in the study. Most social media channels clustered closely together in terms of trust, with YouTube emerging as the most trusted channel. Trust in YouTube among those with high intent was 19 percentage points higher than those with low intent.

Trust in Healthcare Professionals Translates to Creative Execution: When shown creative imagery that included a doctor in a white lab coat versus creative imagery that included a woman in discomfort, the creative execution featuring the physician outperformed the non-clinical imagery by nearly 10 percent.

Standard Social Rules May Not Apply: While shorter content is typically viewed as gold-standard on social media, with clinical trial social ads, longer content performed better. Eighty-one percent of respondents who indicated their condition has a high negative impact on their quality of life preferred an ad with longer and more detailed copy.

The Syneos Health research team will present full findings from this study to more than 1,000 innovation, digital health and commercial and customer strategy attendees at today’s conference. Presentation will convey which elements of digital ads are most effective in reaching potential study participants, positioning clinical trials as a viable medical option and impacting clinical trial referral rates of healthcare professionals.

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About Syneos HealthSyneos Health (Nasdaq:SYNH) is the only fully integrated biopharmaceutical solutions organization. Our company, including a Contract Research Organization (CRO) and Contract Commercial Organization (CCO), is purpose-built to accelerate customer performance to address modern market realities. Created through the merger of two industry leading companies – INC Research and inVentiv Health – we bring together more than 23,000 clinical and commercial minds with the ability to support customers in more than 110 countries. Together we share insights, use the latest technologies and apply advanced business practices to speed our customers’ delivery of important therapies to patients. To learn more about how we are shortening the distance from lab to life® visit syneoshealth.com.

About Syneos Health CommunicationsSyneos Health Communications is the only healthcare communications network that is part of a company on the frontlines of healthcare, with a clear view into the everyday complexities of life and health. As part of Syneos HealthTM, our agencies – consisting of leading brands and experts in advertising, branding, public relations, managed markets and medical communications -- are engaged in every point of influence in health, providing real-world insight into markets and audiences in ways that no other partner could.

We work in scalable, collaborative teams that partner across disciplines and geographies to deliver integrated communications strategies that accelerate brand performance. Our agency teams have received more than 1,000 awards for work that disrupts markets and drives behavior change. We create ideas that will work in the real world because they were built there.Find out more at syneoshealthcommunications.com.